“Wait wait wait, you think I’m the Demon King?” William finally got a chance to speak. “I’m not the Demon King.”

Lorelei smiled slightly. “Oh, it’s a bit too late to pretend. You might not get it, but this staff here can tell who you are through your connection. This time, we’ll get rid of every bit of you for good.”

“What? No, I’m not the Demon King.” William shook his head, then switched to Ostanan. “I’m not the Demon King! I’m William! Come on Chris, you can’t tell it’s me?”

Lorelei blinked, and looked down toward Chris. Chris started twisting and turning, a clear sign that he was confused. “Well?” Lorelei looked at him questioningly.

Chris glowed slightly, a color which William knew meant ‘maybe’... at least if they were still using the old code. William sighed. “Just think about it. Also, Lorelei. You know me too. I’d be pretty upset to get my soul destroyed because of a misunderstanding. You should be able to tell it’s me. I mean, the Demon King didn’t even speak Ostanan. Did he? I’m William Stevenson, not the Demon King! Also, Yu Hui’Lam, last time we met I suppose.”

Lorelei looked him over. “William died. His soul was destroyed in the battle with the Demon King.”

“I died destroying the Demon King! Why does it have to be me who was destroyed? Though I’ll admit I got messed up pretty badly.”

“You want to know? Well, I suppose it won’t hurt to tell you some. You won’t get out anyway. We’ve already found some other fragments of you. We’re destroying them one at a time. We were just coming back here for a break when we happened to find you.”

“The Demon King has… fragments? Well, I’m not the Demon King. I’m William. Ask me something only I would know.”

Lorelei shrugged. “Fine. Where did we first meet?”

“At the-” academy in Woagate? That didn’t make sense. William hadn’t ever been to Woagate. “In a field in Ostana. Near a rock. You had the scroll with Shattering the Soul on it.”

“Hmm, okay. How did Chris get made?”

“Uhh… the Demon King lured a hero and some other people as the final sacrifices for a ritual and sort of squashed their souls into a solid form.”

Lorelei frowned. She looked down at Chris. “Did you tell him that?”

“Probably” was what the glow said.

“Tch. How does the Demon King destroy souls with magic?”

“I don’t know.” William repeated that to himself in his head. He didn’t know. He didn’t remember. He didn’t want to remember that. He didn’t know it in the first place.

“What is my name?”

“Huh? Lorelei. Well, probably not actually. That’s a cover name, right?” Cinzia. Why did he know that? “So, I don’t know your real name, I guess.”

Lorelei frowned slightly, then walked away.

“Wait, where are you going?” There was no response, and William found himself waiting alone… but only for a few minutes.

Lorelei came back fairly promptly, carrying some parchment. “What does this say?”

“Hmm?” William looked at it. “I already answered that right? Before? It says if you can read it to contact William Stevenson.”

“What language is it in?”

“I didn’t tell you that before. It’s English. From my first life.”

Lorelei blinked. “Yes, I know you wrote this in your first life. English is… this made up language?”

Now it was William’s turn to blink. “Did you not read the letter?”

Lorelei raised an eyebrow. “What letter?”

“What letter? The one I left with the Cyril family. I left one for several people to read after I died. Uh, that was with the assumption that my soul was going to be destroyed. It didn’t say much, but it mentioned my first life. Before I came to this world.” William had already intended to let her have that information before… now, it might help him out by sparking her curiosity.

“Before… you came to this world?” She narrowed her eyes. “Tell me about that.”

“I’d love to. If you weren’t interested in destroying my soul, anyway.”

“Well… as interesting that sounds, I’d rather not risk my own soul for the thought… Demon King.”

“I’m not the Demon King. The world didn’t have magic, by the way.”

Lorelei was obviously trying not to look interested. “Well, as much as I’d love to listen to your little tale, I must go. I have other things to do. Until later, Demon King.” After that, she abruptly left.

“I’m not the Demon King!” William called after her, though he knew it was pretty much pointless. He’d thought that would catch her interest enough, but it actually just made her stop listening. William sighed. He wasn’t the Demon King. No matter how many of his memories he had. He was William Stevenson. Not the Demon King.

-----

For a time, William was left alone. This gave him time to think of an escape plan. Hopefully, he wouldn’t need it, but with the way things were going… well, perhaps he would. The first problem was that he couldn’t use magic. Not without mana. Unfortunately, all that was kept outside the cell. He needed to be closer to really do anything with it… if the restrictions on the cell didn’t prevent his control outside. He would continue to think on that, but using magic would require speaking, which would create noise… and he wasn’t sure if there was someone watching from down the hall.

So then… his chains. They were quite solid, attached to manacles of the same material. Then, they were attached to the walls- and the walls also looked quite sturdy. With no locks, he couldn’t pick them even if he had something to try that with. Theoretically he could escape the manacles on his hands- if a certain bone were broken, his hands might be able to squeeze through. Then, he would have hands that barely worked, and his feet would still be stuck. Unfortunately, they were even harder to get out, and the only ways he could think of were very unpleasant and also basically impossible without tools.

Still, if he managed that, there would be the bars to the cell. Strong, yes, but there was actually a lock there. Not that he would be able to do anything with that. He didn’t like that his current plan was so debilitating to himself and probably wouldn’t work… so he decided to think of a better plan. One that wasn’t too painful or crippling, and actually had a chance of success.